<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Starlight And Superheroes by speck_of_dust</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29189097">Starlight And Superheroes</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/speck_of_dust/pseuds/speck_of_dust'>speck_of_dust</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Keeper of the Lost Cities Series - Shannon Messenger</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/F, Sophiana week, Superheroes, Yes I included Jewish Vackers, no i'm not sorry, yes I have a problem</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 03:25:23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,506</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29189097</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/speck_of_dust/pseuds/speck_of_dust</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Flicker- or as she's more commonly known, Biana Vacker- is one of Eternalia City's best superheroes. And, being Jewish, she's one of the only heroes available on Christmas. So, when a new villain named Moonlark, member of the rebel group the Black Swan, is found illegally trying to bottle an unmapped star, Biana is the one who has to stop her. But when she arrives, some questions arise. Is the Black Swan really evil? Is Eternalia really good? And, the most pressing: Is she falling for a villain?<br/>(Written for Day Five of Sophiana week, Superheroes.)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Sophie Foster/Biana Vacker</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>24</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Starlight And Superheroes</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Who am I going to be fighting this time?" Biana sighed, slumping over against the wall. After fighting White Fire and Change Embracer, two of Eternalia City's most feared supervillains, she was exhausted. Unfortunately, superheros apparently had off for Christmas, and since she and Fitz were the only Jewish members of their team, they were stuck working extra. While most villains also took Christmas off, some took advantage of the shortage of superheros, and evidently there was yet another person Biana had to protect civilians from.</p><p>At this point, she kind of wanted to just grab a menorah and hit them in the face with it.</p><p>Fitz was still busy fighting the villains Wraith and Blur, so it was up to Biana to stop this new person.</p><p>Would it really be the worst thing to let them win? At least then she would be able to take a nap. A nap... in her soft, warm, inviting bed... <em>That's enough, Biana. Focus.</em></p><p>"Her name is Moonlark," Bronte answered, glaring at her like it would be really nice if she would stop asking questions. <em>Hey, it's not like I want to be here either. </em>"She's relatively new, so we don't know much about her, but we do know that she's working with the Black Swan instead of the Neverseen. Her powers are Telepathy, Teleportation, and Inflicting. There might be more we don't know about."</p><p>"She has <em>three powers</em>?"</p><p>"Or more. Moonlark is attempting to locate and bottle Elementine, which, as you know, is a very dangerous substance. We don't yet know what she's planning to do with it, but it can't be good. Stop her before we can find out."</p><p>She nodded and rubbed exhaustion from her eyes. "Once I do that, can I go home and eat my Chinese food?"</p><p>"Beat her and then we'll see, Flicker."</p><p>"Fine." Without another word, she vanished and walked out the door. Halfway through the hallway, she realized she'd forgotten to ask where she was going to go. Biana groaned and ran back, becoming visible again. "Where am I going again?"</p><p>Rolling his eyes, Bronte answered "Siren Rock."</p><p>Good. That wasn't too far from here. She nodded again and stayed visible as she walked, wanting to conserve energy for the fight. Biana didn't know much about Moonlark or how difficult she would be, but considering the new villain had at least three powers, it couldn't be easy. Once she approached Siren Rock, she vanished so the villain wouldn't see her coming, trying to make her footsteps as silent as possible.</p><p>Even when she was close enough that she could have touched Moonlark if she wanted, Moonlark didn't seem to notice. The villain had her face pressed into the stellarscope, and remained oblivious to everything around her. Biana's gaze followed where the stellarscope was pointing. She didn't recognize the star it seemed to lead to, but that didn't matter- Bronte said she was trying to bottle Elementine, and she had no need to doubt him. Since bottling light from Elementine was extremely dangerous, as well as quite illegal, she didn't really need to know anything else either.</p><p>Moonlark hadn't worn anything to hide her face, Biana noticed with a bit of confusion. Maybe she hadn't expected for anyone to find her, which seemed rather arrogant. Still, Moonlark was kind of pretty, Biana supposed. Pretty enough that Biana's disaster lesbian ass kept staring. She had long, golden blonde hair and wore red, which was <em>definitely </em>her color. And her rosebud lips were pulled into a slight smile, one that Biana couldn't quite look away from.</p><p>Holy shit, she must have been really tired if she was busy thinking about a <em>villain's </em>lips.</p><p>Snapping out of her daze, she reached out and yanked the stellarscope away from Moonlark. Moonlark yelped in surprise and pulled the stellarscope back towards her, muttering something like <em>What the hell, there's no one even standing there?</em></p><p>Biana knew Moonlark couldn't see, but she smiled. Perks of being invisible. She tugged on the stellarscope again, striking the villain's face with her elbow as she did so. Moonlark let go instantly to clutch at her cheek, which had a red mark on it.</p><p>"Hey, give that back!" she yelled, wildly kicking out to where she must have thought Biana stood. She missed the first few tries, but eventually, she managed to kick into Biana's side.</p><p>Biana grunted, flickering into sight from the surprise. "I don't think I will." She took a shuddering breath and stuffed the stellarscope into her pocket.</p><p>Moonlark's eyes widened for a moment, taking in Biana's appearance. A blush rose to her cheeks. A second later, though, her expression returned to a scowl and it was like nothing ever happened. "I was kind of doing something with that, if you hadn't noticed."</p><p>"As a matter of fact," Biana said, reaching out to grab Moonlark's arm. She held onto it for balance as she swung a roundhouse kick to the side of Moonlark's head. Moonlark blocked it with her other arm. "I had noticed, and that's why I was trying to stop you."</p><p>"I wasn't doing anything wrong!" Moonlark insisted, her voice rising to a yelp on the last word as Biana gave up on kicking her head and kicked her shin instead.</p><p>With the leg that had just kicked out, Biana stepped past Moonlark so their hips were now pressed together. As she straightened her leg and pushed on Sophie's shoulder, sending her spiraling down, she said "You were bottling Elementine, a star that's both dangerous and illegal. Correct me if I'm wrong, but that does kind of sound like you might have been doing something wrong."</p><p>"Ow," Moonlark groaned as she hit the ground. "Okay, I know it doesn't look great, but maybe you could give me the chance to explain?"</p><p>Biana knelt down, her knee on top of Moonlark's chest and her hands pinning Moonlark's shoulders to the ground. She tugged at the Black Swan symbol on Moonlark's outfit. <em>Yeah, red is definitely her color</em>, her mind said, the thought unbidden. She pushed the thought away, cheeks heating up. "You're working with the Black Swan, a rebel group that's been working against Eternalia City for years. So, no."</p><p>Moonlark reached into her pocket and brought out an imparter. Before Biana could grab it, the villain yelled "Swan song!"</p><p>"What is it, Sophie?" a voice replied instantly.</p><p><em>Sophie</em>. That was her name. A rather normal name, humanizing the villain. Making her less of a villain, and more of... a girl.</p><p>
  <em>What the fuck, Flicker? Please get some sleep and stop being attracted to the villains you're fighting.</em>
</p><p>"Dex," Sophie grunted. "Some damn idiot-"</p><p>"I have a name," Biana said.</p><p>"Fine. What is your name?"</p><p>Though she planned to reply with Flicker, "Biana," came out instead.</p><p>"Alright. Some damn idiot named Biana-" Biana grabbed the imparter back from Sophie and hung up. It was possible that Dex knew where Sophie was anyway, but since she'd never mentioned a location or anything other than Biana's name and the fact that she was <em>some</em> <em>damn idiot</em>, the risk was relatively low.</p><p>"Now that that's settled-"</p><p>Sophie, apparently, had plans other than conversation. She squeezed her eyes shut and a sort of pinkish light came out of Sophie's forehead. Biana had just a second to think <em>What the fuck</em>? before pain encompassed her. Unable to do anything else, she screamed, wishing for it to stop. Needing to stop. It hurt, it hurt so fucking much, why wouldn't it just stop? Distantly, she became aware of her losing her hold on pinning Sophie, and felt herself get pinned on the cold grass instead, but the only thing she could really focus on was the pain. It hurt, it hurt so badly... <em>please, make it stop.</em></p><p>And then, somehow, miraculously, it did stop. A vague sense of coherency returned to Biana's mind, making her realize <em>Huh, so that's what getting inflicted on feels like. </em>It wasn't pleasant. She then noticed that the stellarscope was no longer in her possession, and Moonlark was standing back upright, twisting knobs to bottle Elementine once again.</p><p>Shit.</p><p>She vanished before lunging at Sophie, tackling her to the ground. Biana still just really wanted to go home, and she wasn't going to waste time with elegant fighting skills. Her momentum and the element of surprise was enough to get Moonlark beneath her once again. She lightly pressed her elbow to Sophie's throat, and leaned in close. Close enough to make her cheeks heat up. <em>Dammit, Flicker, get yourself together.</em> "What were you bottling Elementine for?" she demanded.</p><p>"Biana," Sophie groaned. "How about you stop pinning me, and I won't inflict on you, and we can have a civilized conversation like fucking normal people."</p><p>She considered it briefly. The knowledge that she would have to move so that Sophie's warm breath wasn't close enough to tickle her cheeks factored in her decision far more than she would have liked, but eventually, she nodded. "I keep the stellarscope, though."</p><p>"Fair enough. Can you get off now?"</p><p>Biana nodded and stood, walking a few steps away from Sophie. How far was inflicting range? She had no idea, so she would just have to trust that Sophie would hold her end of the deal and not inflict. Though trusting a villain was kind of a terrible idea, she wasn't too worried. "What were you bottling Elementine for?" she repeated.</p><p>"I was trying to get Quintessence."</p><p>"That's not helpful. What do you need Quintessence for?"</p><p>"Frissyn."</p><p>"What the hell is Frissyn?"</p><p>"Answer one of my questions first."</p><p>Biana rolled her eyes. "<em>Fine</em>. What do you want to know?"</p><p>"Maybe what the fuck you're doing here, and why you attacked me."</p><p>After rolling her eyes again, Biana answered "I'm Flicker, one of Eternalia's superheroes. I was sent to stop you from bottling the again, <em>dangerous and illegal </em>Quintessence. And because you're a member of the Black Swan, which is, again, one of the city's enemies."</p><p>"Working on Christmas?"</p><p>"I'm Jewish."</p><p>Sophie nodded. "Neat. Um... happy Hanukkah?"</p><p>"Ended a few days ago, but thanks." Biana cleared her throat, tearing her gaze away from Sophie's gold-flecked brown eyes. Really pretty eyes. <em>She's still a villain. </em>"So, back to my question. What's Frissyn?"</p><p>"It's some sort of alchemy substance... I have no idea how to make it, but the point is, it extinguishes Everblaze."</p><p>"And why do you need Frissyn?"</p><p>Moonlark shook her head. "My turn. Why do you want to be a superhero? For Eternalia City?"</p><p>The question gave Biana some pause. No one had ever asked her that before, not even when she applied for the job. With her mom and brother as superheros, and her father used to be one before her parents divorced, no one even questioned it at all. They just assumed she wanted the job and gave it to her. After a long silence, she answered "Because it was expected of me, I guess. I'm told it's what I've been working for my entire life."</p><p>"You're told?"</p><p>"Nope, it's my turn." Despite herself, a smile came to Biana's face. She forced it down, but it returned when she saw Sophie smiling as well. "Why do you need Frissyn?"</p><p>"The Neverseen, particularly White Fire, keep setting our hideouts on fire. It's rather annoying, and we'd like them to stop. Alright, what do you mean <em>you're told </em>it's what you've been working for your entire life?"</p><p>Biana sighed and lay backwards on the grass. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Sophie lie down next to her. The stars above them looked really nice, and if things were different, she could almost imagine this was a date.</p><p>Okay, fine. It didn't really seem possible to deny anymore. Biana wasn't just tired. She was incredibly, incredibly stupid, and now she was falling for a fucking <em>supervillain.</em></p><p>
  <em>Deal with that later, Flicker. For now, just work on stopping her from...</em>
</p><p>
  <em>From extinguishing a fire burning her home.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Well, when I say it like that...</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Just shut the fuck up, inner voices. You can handle this crisis once we're done talking to Sophie... so we have all the facts.</em>
</p><p>"Exactly what it sounds like," Biana finally said, pushing the internal monologue aside. "Growing up, I was <em>told </em>that I had to be a superhero, and that it was all I should want. All I would want. After all, I'm a Vacker. And who wouldn't want to be a superhero? I... I do want to be a superhero. And, you know, do the right thing. Save people. Fight the bad guys. As ridiculous as it sounds, this is what I want."</p><p>"Are you sure?"</p><p>"Hey, it's my turn. Why do you want to be a villain? For the Black Swan?"</p><p>"I didn't want to be a villain, specifically. It wasn't like I woke up one day and went <em>Ah yes, I would like to be evil. </em>The Black Swan isn't really even evil. The Neverseen is, for sure, which is why I turned down the offer when they tried to recruit me. But, I mean... the oath to join the Black Swan is 'I will do everything in my power to help my world.' Which doesn't sound particularly evil to me. And that's why I joined, you know? Because I wanted to help my world. I also wanted to do the right thing."</p><p>"Is it the right thing, though?"</p><p>"We're really bad at this taking turns thing, aren't we?" Sophie pointed out, and Biana let out a breathless laugh.</p><p>"Yeah. We are. Sorry, go ahead."</p><p>"Are you sure this is what you want?"</p><p>Biana groaned, tangling her fingers in her hair and pressing her knuckles into her eyes. <em>Say yes, </em>everything in her seemed to scream. <em>Yes. Yes. This is what you want. This is what you want, what you should want, and what you've always wanted. Yes, this is what you want.</em></p><p>
  <em>...isn't it?</em>
</p><p>"I don't know," she blurted, tears springing to her eyes. The words surprised even her. "I don't know," she repeated. "I don't know, I don't know if this is what I want anymore. It's what I've wanted for as long as I can remember, since I was old enough to really want anything at all, and I've always been so sure that Eternalia was right and the Black Swan and Neverseen were wrong, so of course being a superhero was the right thing to do, but now I don't know anymore, I don't <em>know</em>. Because I was always told that the Black Swan was bad and they wanted to hurt people and they were all evil, but you don't seem evil at all, you're actually really great but that's a whole other crisis, and if I was wrong about whether the Black Swan was good, then how the hell do I know Eternalia is good? I want to do the right thing, I do, but know I don't know what the right thing is anymore, and I think I might have been doing the wrong thing for years, and I just-"</p><p>"Hey," Sophie said, her voice laced with concern. "It's okay. You're not a bad person, and it's not like Eternalia is evil or anything. It just has flaws, and that's what the Black Swan is trying to fix. It's okay, I promise."</p><p>Biana sniffed and wiped her eyes. She could feel Sophie's fingers laced in her. It wasn't clear when that happened, but she liked it. A lot. "Okay," she said, her voice shaky. She cleared her throat. "What kind of flaws are the Black Swan trying to fix?"</p><p>"Well... the way they treat anyone Talentless is one thing, you know? Like they're worthless or whatever? I mean, my friend's dad is Talentless, and his brother Lex, and both of them are really good at alchemy and, well, pulling pranks on everyone. And they made Pyrokinesis illegal, which makes sense for people like White Fire, but it really isn't fair to my friend Marella. Oh, and the idea that twins and triplets are weaker or something? Because my friends Tam and Linh are twins, and both of them are insanely powerful. And then the triplets are, again, great at pranks and alchemy. And, of course, the Matchmaking system is stupid and based entirely on abilities, and it's unfair to people who aren't matched with each other. And, well... the system doesn't like queer people. Like me. I'm omnisexual."</p><p>Biana's breath caught, but Sophie didn't seem to notice.</p><p>"So yeah, you might not really have to deal with this sort of stuff, but it's really unfair, and I want to fix it. And maybe the Black Swan's way of doing that is slightly illegal, but... I still think it's the right thing to do."</p><p>"Do you really think I'm straight?" Biana asked quietly.</p><p>"What? Um... yeah?"</p><p>"Sophie, I've been a lesbian disaster this entire time. Did you really not notice?"</p><p>Sophie smiled sheepishly. "I'm told I'm kind of oblivious."</p><p>"Yeah, I noticed," Biana laughed. She rolled over so she was staring at Sophie instead of at the sky. Their noses were nearly touching. "Do you want to finish bottling the Quintessence?" she asked. "So you can put out the Everblaze?"</p><p>A look of confusion came over Sophie, but she nodded quickly. "Yeah. Yeah, that sounds great. You're really...?"</p><p>Biana couldn't escape the nagging feeling that she would regret this later. "I guess I am. You've convinced me that the Black Swan is good. And that Eternalia isn't perfect. I mean... I knew it was kind of homophobic, but I just kind of kept quiet about me being lesbian and hoped for the best. But... yeah. I'm done doing that. I'm done pretending. Yeah, I'm helping you."</p><p>Before Biana could even register what was happening, Sophie's rosebud lips pressed against her cheek. Despite the frigid air, Biana's cheeks flamed. "What was that?"</p><p>Sophie blushed. "I don't know. Just... I'm happy for you. And I'm really glad you don't hate me anymore."</p><p>"Yeah, me too. Sorry about trying to beat you up earlier, by the way."</p><p>"Right. Same."</p><p>Biana smiled. "Now that that's out of the way... ready to bottle some completely illegal stars?"</p><p>"Thought you'd never ask," Sophie grinned. "Would you mind helping? It's easier with two people..."</p><p>"Yeah," said Biana, remembering when she used to bottle stars for her Universe class. It seemed like a long time ago, but she distinctly remembered that if two people used the stellarscope together- with one person holding it and the other twisting the knobs- they would have to stand quite close together. Pressed against one another. Pressed against <em>Sophie</em>. She blushed, and her voice sounded slightly strained when she said "Sure."</p><p>Sophie's grin widened. "Thanks. I'll look for the star if you hold it?"</p><p>"Sounds good," said Biana, handing Sophie the stellarscope. Sophie held it up to her eyes while Biana stepped closer being her and wrapped her arms around to get a good grip. She was slightly shorter than Sophie, the perfect height for resting her chin on Sophie's shoulder. They were so close... for however long it took Sophie to find and bottle the star, all Biana could think of was utter gay panic. Finally, Sophie stepped away. Her absence brought Biana the ability to function and a strange sense of disappointment.</p><p>Sophie held up the bottle of starlight. "Um... I got it."</p><p>"Great." Biana looked at Sophie, unsure what to say. They stood staring at each other for a while. "I guess I'll let you get that to whoever's making the Frissyn, then."</p><p>"Yeah... I guess I should do that. Do you... do you want to come?"</p><p>Sadly, Biana shook her head. "No, I have to get eat dinner. Mom and Fitz are probably waiting on me, and it's going to be Chinese food."</p><p>"Because you're Jewish?"</p><p>"Obviously." Awkwardly, Biana shifted her weight to the other leg, and then back. "Um... if I wanted to join the Black Swan, how would I go about doing that?"</p><p>"I'm not really sure. We've never had a superhero join before. I guess I'll ask Forkle and then call you?"</p><p>"That sounds good. So... I guess this would be goodbye?"</p><p>"Probably." Sophie gave Biana a small smile. "I'll see you soon, Flicker."</p><p>Biana smiled back. "See you soon, Moonlark." She vanished and turned, beginning to walk away. After a few steps, she froze. Before really even thinking, she turned visible again and ran to Sophie, cupping her face and pressing a kiss to her lips. It might have been a stupid decision, but then Sophie kissed back, and <em>oh holy shit, </em>she was kissing Sophie, she was kissing Moonlark, but most of all, she was kissing <em>Sophie.</em></p><p>Finally, when air became a necessity, they pulled apart. Biana immediately wanted to start kissing Sophie again, but she managed to retrain herself. Sophie's gold-flecked brown eyes were wide, pupils dilated. Her cheeks heating up, Biana smiled again and waved, blowing a kiss before leaving once again.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thank you for reading! Please consider leaving a comment if you liked it. :)</p></blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>